<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Trillion Chances by nullpointerintime</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25051114">Trillion Chances</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/nullpointerintime/pseuds/nullpointerintime'>nullpointerintime</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fix-It</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:53:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,820</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25051114</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/nullpointerintime/pseuds/nullpointerintime</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>"If Worf hadn't come along, it would have been you."</em>
</p><p>Kira already felt horrible about Jadzia's death, but Ezri's revelation has her feeling even worse.<br/>Everything is complicated when Jadzia returns, especially since this Jadzia has no memory of her relationship with Worf.<br/>A fix-it fic for Season 7 where both Ezri and Jadzia are alive and present on the station.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dax (both) &amp; Worf, Ezri Dax &amp; Jadzia Dax, Jadzia Dax/Kira Nerys, References to Past Jadzia/Worf</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Perspective will rotate between Kira, Ezri, and Jadzia.</p><p>With the exception of the prologue (which is set during Our Man Bashir), the rest of this fic takes place during season 7, starting after episode 3, Afterimage.</p><p>Mostly canon-compliant through season 6, with the big exception being that Kira/Odo never happened.</p><p>This fic will reference some events from two Voyager episodes: season 3's Future's End and season 4's Message in a Bottle. Everything will still make sense if you haven't seen them, but if you're very particular about spoilers, be warned.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h3 class="chapter-title">Prologue</h3><h4 class="narrator">Jadzia</h4>
<p>Jadzia was exhausted. She had just spent the past week at a conference on Tellar Prime with Benjamin, Worf, Major Kira, and Chief O'Brien, but while the conference was tiring, her exhaustion had more to do with the combined obliviousness of the major and the lieutenant commander.</p>
<p>Kira, she could understand. The occupation and her time in the resistance had made it difficult for the major to accept that she was worthy of love, particularly of the romantic kind. Dax had spent the past three years slowly chipping away at Kira's shell and had managed to develop a close friendship with her, but Jadzia's gentle attempts at flirting had so far gone unnoticed. For some time after the death of Vedek Bareil, Jadzia had kept her distance in this regard, allowing her friend the time to grieve, but over the past year, she had ramped up her overtures to new levels.</p>
<p>Worf, on the other hand, had no excuse. Jadzia had felt an attraction from the moment he stepped on the station. Since Kira had yet to reciprocate her advances, she figured she'd have better luck pursuing the Klingon, if not for a relationship, then at least for some very <em>vigorous</em> sex. In true Klingon fashion, she'd been far more aggressive in her approach than she was with Kira, but Worf was no ordinary Klingon. In a way, Worf was more honorable than the vast majority of Klingons Dax knew (and Dax knew a lot of Klingons), but while that made him an excellent Starfleet officer, it had proven to be very frustrating in Jadzia's quest to get laid.</p>
<p>She'd almost left them both behind in pursuit of Lenara Kahn, but her former wife was ultimately unwilling to disregard the taboos of Trill society, to Jadzia's heartbreak.</p>
<p>After this week, during which Dax had practically thrown herself at Worf to no avail, she was once again leaning towards focusing her flirtation on Kira. It might take longer to get to the point Jadzia wants, but it at least felt more promising than waiting for Worf to catch a hint.</p>
<p>Dax's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the runabout violently shaking. She heard Worf announce that a warp core breach was imminent and O'Brien say something about sabotage, and before she knew it, she felt the woosh of a transport beam as the <em>Orinoco</em> exploded.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. I. Kira</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h3 class="chapter-title">I</h3><h4 class="narrator">Kira</h4>
<p>
  <strong>Three Years Later</strong>
</p>
<p>Dax's words echoed in Kira's head as she walked across the Promenade.</p>
<p>
  <em>"If Worf hadn't come along, it would have been you."</em>
</p>
<p>The thought that her friend had once been interested in her romantically had crossed Kira's mind before. In the moment, she had always dismissed Jadzia's flirting as just Dax being Dax. While she eventually entertained the possibility during her breakup with Shakaar, by that time Jadzia was already with Worf, so it felt like a moot point. She supposed it still was, especially now, but that didn't stop Ezri's confirmation of Jadzia's feelings from making Kira consider what-ifs.</p>
<p>She needed to clear her head. By habit, she started walking towards the Bajoran temple, but thought better of it when she remembered what had happened there just a few months prior.</p>
<p>
  <em>"If Worf hadn't come along, it would have been you."</em>
</p>
<p>With the temple not an option, her next thought was to go down to Bajor and get some fresh air and sunshine. Unfortunately, she had far too much work to do on the station to afford a six hour round trip to the planet. Stuck without any better options, she headed into Quark's.</p>
<p>"Hello, Colonel. What can I get for you?" The Ferengi greeted her as she walked in.</p>
<p>"Are any of your holosuites free?" Kira asked hesitantly. Unlike most people on the station, she rarely spent any time in one. She could never get past the artificiality of it all.</p>
<p>"Actually, I just had someone cancel. Holosuite 3 is yours for the next hour," Quark responded with a tinge of surprise in his voice - Kira's lack of enthusiasm for holographic entertainment was well known on the station. Quark paused for the moment as if to say something, but thought better of it and turned his attention back to his customers.</p>
<p>As Kira walked up the stairs, she tried to remember the last time she'd even been in a holosuite and realized it'd been several months - back before Jadzia had died.</p>
<p>
  <em>"If Worf hadn't come along, it would have been you."</em>
</p>
<p>As she thought more, she realized that most of the time she <em>had </em>spent in a holosuite had been at Dax's insistence. She considered the irony of using one to try and get her mind off the Trill and laughed a little.</p>
<p>"Computer, begin relaxation program Kira-1," Kira called out as she entered the suite.</p>
<p>"Unable to comply. No program with that name exists," the computer droned in response.</p>
<p>Hmm. That's odd. Maybe it got deleted. "Computer, has any program with that name ever existed?"</p>
<p>"Yes. Relaxation program Kira-1 was deleted on Stardate 49300.7."</p>
<p>That was almost three years ago! She figured it made sense that she wouldn't notice - most of the time she <em>did</em> spend in the holosuites was at the request of others. Oh well. It was a simple program that she could easily recreate.</p>
<p>As she re-entered the parameters for her relaxation program (a simulation of a meadow overlooking a stream in her native Dakhur province), Kira realized that she was pretty sure of what caused her program to be deleted. A few years ago, Kira, Sisko, Worf, O'Brien, and Dax had been approaching the station in a runabout when it exploded. Ops had managed to transport them out, but the resulting feedback damaged the station transporters and prevented them from rematerializing. To prevent their patterns from degrading, they were dumped into the main station memory, overriding all sorts of existing data. According to Dr. Bashir, they'd spent several hours as characters in one of his holoprograms until the on-duty officers were able to beam them out. Her relaxation program must have been deleted during the incident.</p>
<p>Kira finished entering the parameters for her program and was greeted by another error from the computer. "Unable to comply. Insufficient holographic memory available for Colonel Kira Nerys."</p>
<p>"What in the Prophets' name?! How am I out of holosuite space? I only have the one program!" This venture into the holosuites was certainly not relaxing, though on the plus side it was helping Kira to take her mind off Dax. "Computer, list holoprograms saved for Kira Nerys in order of size."</p>
<p>"You have one program saved, consuming 99.97% of your holosuite quota."</p>
<p>99%? That's one large program. As a senior officer, she should have an extremely high memory cap - far too high for any one program to consume it all. Perhaps she traded some of her quota to Bashir and forgot about it.</p>
<p>"Computer, launch that program." No better way to see what could be taking up all that space than to run it. She considered the possibility that this was some sort of prank by Dr. Bashir or Chief O'Brien (or Dax, for that matter), but her curiosity outweighed any hesitation.</p>
<p>To her surprise, the image that loaded was not some grand landscape that replaced the walls of the holosuite, or any other impressive program that might justify its size. Instead, Kira saw a single humanoid figure appear. She turned white when she recognized who it was.</p>
<p>"Kira? What are we doing in a holosuite? Where's everyone else? Did they make it off the <em>Orinoco </em>safely? And what happened to your hair?" asked the hologram, which had taken the form of one Jadzia Dax.</p>
<p>For a moment Kira was too stunned to speak. "Whaa….?" she eventually uttered, mouth open.</p>
<p>"Kira, are you okay?" The Jadzia figure stepped forward, resting her hands on Kira's shoulders.</p>
<p>"Y-you. You're not real. You're just some holographic simulation," Kira stuttered, backing away slightly from the hologram.</p>
<p>"Nerys," the hologram responded, affection in her voice, "of course I'm real. Don't worry. You've just had a shock from the runabout explosion. Now do you have any idea why we're here?"</p>
<p>"Runabout explosion? What are you talking about?" As she said the words, Kira's brain caught up with her eyes. The Jadzia hologram had mentioned the <em>Orinoco</em>. That was the runabout they were on three years ago. Could this program be connected to all that?</p>
<p>Kira's realization steadied her from the shock. "What's the current stardate?" she asked the hologram.</p>
<p>"Uh… 49300-something. I forget the time."</p>
<p>"Jadzia, that was almost three years ago."</p>
<p>"You mean, I've been stuck in a transporter buffer for three years?! I didn't know such a thing was even possible."</p>
<p>"It's not." Kira went on to explain how the initial incident was resolved, with their patterns spending several hours in the holosuite memory before they all, Dax included, rematerialized on the <em>Defiant</em>.</p>
<p>"So then why am I here?"</p>
<p>"That I don't know. I just came to the holosuite to relax, and there was a single program taking up all of my storage quota. I launched it and suddenly you appeared."</p>
<p>"So… I'm a hologram?" asked Jadzia, somewhat uneasily.</p>
<p>"I guess?" Kira responded. "Though I've never seen a single hologram take up as much memory as you. Maybe your transporter pattern is still in there somewhere."</p>
<p>"Let's get the chief down here to investigate."</p>
<p>Kira nodded her head and tapped her combadge. "Kira to O'Brien. Can you come down to Holosuite 3? We could use your expertise."</p>
<p>"Oh my way, Colonel," the chief's voice responded over the comm. "D'ya mind if Julian tags along? To be honest, he probably has more experience with holoprograms than I do at this point."</p>
<p>"Go right ahead, chief."</p>
<p>"Colonel, eh?" Jadzia said after Kira closed the comm channel. "Glad to see your government finally gave you a promotion." Jadzia's pride in her friend shone through in the way she smiled at Kira.</p>
<p>"You've missed a lot in the past three years," Kira responded, her uneasiness quickly returning. "A lot." Kira's thoughts once again returned to Ezri's words from earlier, now complicated by the woman standing in front of her.</p>
<p>
  <em>"If Worf hadn't come along, it would have been you."</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. II. Ezri</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h3 class="chapter-title">II</h3>
<h4 class="narrator">Ezri</h4><p>How could she have been so insensitive?</p><p>Everyone was already struggling to reconcile Ezri with the Dax they knew, and then she had to go and tell Kira about Jadzia's feelings for her. Ezri needed to get ahold of her disparate memories before she hurt her friends more than she already had.</p><p>But were they even her friends? Or were they just Jadzia's friends who were putting up with her out of respect for the dead? Benjamin still had trouble seeing past the Curzon in her, let alone the Jadzia. And don't even get her started on the awkwardness that still lingered between her and Worf.</p><p>Ezri had managed to wrangle enough control over her past lives to be a mostly functional member of society, but they were still wreaking havoc on her personal life. Figuring out her romantic feelings had been hard enough when she was just Ezri Tigan - now she had to deal with eight different lives chiming in whenever she so much as glanced at an attractive person.</p><p>"Kira to Dax," her combadge chimed. "When you get the chance, could you come to holosuite 3? There's someone I need you to meet."</p><p>"I'll be there in a few minutes," Ezri responded, a bit confused. Kira in a holosuite? And who did she want her to meet there?</p><p>As Ezri walked from her office into Quark's, her mind raced through possibilities. Maybe this was all an elaborate ruse for a surprise party? Tobin's birthday had been last week (not that anyone on the station would know that). Kira wasn't asking her out, was she? Jadzia may have had feelings for the Bajoran, but Ezri was pretty sure she didn't (or did she?). Was someone in need of emergency counseling? Kira's tone didn't seem particularly urgent. Maybe Kira just wanted to have a fun holosuite adventure with her, to try to clear the air after their conversation earlier today.</p><p>Her train of thought could have gone on for hours, but Ezri had reached the doors of holosuite 3. She entered to find Chief O'Brien working on a conduit, Dr. Bashir tapping away at a holographic console, and Colonel Kira talking to a tall woman with her back to the entrance. When the woman turned around at the sound of the holosuite doors closing, Ezri almost fainted.</p><p>It was Jadzia.</p><p>She stood in shock for a moment, before realizing that she was in a holosuite, and that she wasn't actually looking at a ghost. Still, this did require some explanation.</p><p>"Uh, Kira? Why do you have a holoprogram of Jadzia?" Not giving Kira a chance to respond, she continued. "Because I know there's been research on using holograms for grief therapy, but it's very inconclusive and you should really talk to a counselor before starting it and guess I am a counselor so maybe that's why you asked me to come here. Unless you think this would help me get a handle on my past lives but I really don't think that would work though I guess it's kind of a like a zhian'tara except not since she wouldn't have Jadzia's memories and I really should get around to doing that but I don't know if I could ask all of you to go through that again and…"</p><p>"Ezri, relax. It's nothing like that." Kira put her hand on Ezri's shoulder to try and calm her down. "Do you remember that time we were transported off of a runabout as it was exploding and Ops had to store our patterns in the holosuites' memory for several hours until they were able to transport us out?"</p><p>"Uh…"</p><p>"We were all stuck as characters in one of Dr. Bashir's spy novels," Kira clarified.</p><p>"Ah… now I remember. Julian wouldn't shut up about it for weeks."</p><p>"Hey…" a slightly hurt Bashir chimed in.</p><p>"But what does that all have to do with this?" Ezri continued, gesturing at Jadzia.</p><p>"Well… maybe the chief can better explain what happened," Kira responded.</p><p>O'Brien stood up from his conduit to join the conversation. "It turns out that when Rom beamed our patterns out of the program, there was a feedback loop that refracted the beam <em>back</em> into the holosuite database."</p><p>"Okay, but then why did we still appear on the <em>Defiant</em>?"</p><p>"The refraction meant that our patterns rematerialized where they were supposed to, but that <em>copies</em> of all of us were sent back into the holosuite."</p><p>"Wait," a shocked Ezri interjected as the realization of what had happened hit her. "So then this is actually Jadzia, not just a simulation."</p><p>"I suppose some introductions are in order," said Kira. "Jadzia, this is Lt. Ezri Dax, the station's counselor." Turning from Jadzia to Ezri, she continued. "Ezri, this is Jadzia, though I suppose you already know her even better than the rest of us."</p><p>Jadzia extended a hand towards Ezri, who shook it, still trying to process what was going on. "I guess we don't have to wait for your zhian'tara to meet," Jadzia joked, but Ezri could tell that her past life was just as overwhelmed as she was. Her initiate training may have allowed her to mask it from everyone else, but she couldn't fool Ezri.</p><p>"So then, you're a transporter clone, like Thomas Riker?"</p><p>"Not exactly," Jadzia responded. "Chief?"</p><p>"Near as I can tell, she's a hologram," O'Brien explained. "But her holographic matrix is far beyond anything I've seen before, even self-aware ones like Vic Fontaine."</p><p>"And as far as my own senses can tell me, nothing feels any different from when I was an organic lifeform. Dax hasn't seemed to notice the change either. I didn't even know I was a hologram until Major-er Colonel Kira mentioned it."</p><p>"So you've been living in a holosuite for the past three years and never noticed anything wrong?"</p><p>"No. The last thing I remember is being beamed off the <em>Orinoco</em>, until Kira turned me on an hour ago." Kira blushed at the (probably unintentional) innuendo (though you could never be sure with Jadzia), and Ezri cringed a little, her thoughts returning to her earlier conversation with the colonel.</p><p>"What about the others that were in the refracted beam? Are there holographic clones of the rest of you too?"</p><p>"No," the chief responded. "For some reason the computer only saved Jadzia's pattern."</p><p>"I think I can solve that mystery," Julian looked up from his console to chime in. "All of the patterns were refracted back into the holosuite, but since the transport was still in progress, the original memory the patterns were stored in was still reserved, and the computer didn't have enough space to store five different patterns."</p><p>"And it chose to save Jadzia?"</p><p>"From what I can tell from the logs," the doctor continued, "it has something to do with the symbiont. Either the transporter or the holosuite saw that Jadzia's pattern contained two lifeforms and chose to prioritize based on that."</p><p>"That's the transporter prioritization subroutine," Miles explained. "When a transporter beam contains multiple patterns, it prioritizes those that contain more than one lifeform. It's mostly meant for pregnant people, but I suppose it works for joined Trills too."</p><p>"It's a worm!" Jadzia exclaimed while clutching her belly, drawing a slight chuckle from Kira and an eye-roll from Ezri.</p><p>"Anyway…" Julian tried to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand. "With the main memory still reserved, the most readily available space to store Jadzia's pattern was Colonel Kira's holosuite quota."</p><p>"…which we didn't discover until now since I never use the holosuites unless someone else drags me along." Kira added.</p><p>"So you can beam me out now, right?" Jadzia kept her cool demeanor, but Ezri could tell that she was worried. "Like what Rom did with the rest of you?"</p><p>"I'm afraid it's not that simple," the chief responded. "Originally, all of our <em>physical</em> forms were stored in the holosuite, overriding Julian's holocharacters, but our <em>neural</em> patterns filled the rest of the station's memory. In this case, the holosuite actually <em>converted</em> Jadzia's pattern into a holographic matrix."</p><p>"These sorts of conversion subroutines were designed for program authors to be able to insert real-world objects into their works." Julian added. "It's never been tried with a sentient being before. It's a miracle you're here at all!"</p><p>"So you're saying I'm stuck here, in a holosuite?" Jadzia's worry was now visible even to those that didn't share her memories.</p><p>"It shouldn't be permanent, at least in theory. Your entire transporter pattern is encoded within the holographic matrix, so it <em>should</em> just be a matter of reversing the conversion process, but, yes, for the time being, you are unfortunately stuck here."</p><p>The conversation was cut short by the holosuite doors opening, revealing Lt. Commander Worf dressed in his workout clothes, mek'leth in hand.</p><p>"I apologize for the intrusion. The Ferengi said this holosuite was unoccupied." Worf turned to leave, but then doubled back. "Jadzia! <em>be'nalwI'</em>!"</p><p>"Uh, Worf…" Ezri said when she saw the confusion on her past life's face. "We should talk." Ezri led Worf out of the holosuite and closed the door behind them.</p><p>"What is the meaning of this?"</p><p>"Worf, do you remember that time we were beamed off a runabout as it was exploding, and our patterns spent several hours inside one of Dr. Bashir's holonovels?" Worf nodded, and Ezri then explained the process by which this Jadzia came to be.</p><p>"I see. So then she <em>is</em> still Jadzia, just stuck inside of a hologram."</p><p>"Yes, but remember Worf, this all happened almost a year before we got together," Ezri clarified. "She doesn't remember being married to you."</p><p>"So then you're telling me that there are now two Daxes: one who remembers our marriage but is not Jadzia, and one who <em>is</em> Jadzia, but has no memory of our relationship?" Ezri nodded, not knowing anything else she could say.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. III. Jadzia</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h3 class="chapter-title">III</h3><h4 class="narrator">Jadzia</h4>
<p>Jadzia's day had gotten longer. She was beamed off the runabout only to find herself in a holosuite, three years in the future, apparently converted into a hologram. And that was only the beginning.</p>
<p>"I'm sorry, is my Klingon getting rusty, or did Worf just call me his wife?" she asked the room.</p>
<p>"Well, my Klingon's worse than yours, so I don't know exactly what Worf said," Kira responded, "but, yes, Worf and the other you did get married about a year ago."</p>
<p>Well, that was certainly a surprise. Worf must have caught on to her flirtations after all.</p>
<p>"Hmm. Did I miss any other big life events?"</p>
<p>"For you? I think that's the big one." Kira responded.</p>
<p>"What about the rest of you? Julian, are you and Leeta still together?"</p>
<p>"Oh, no. We broke up ages ago. She's married to Rom now."</p>
<p>"Rom? As in Quark's brother, Rom?" Bashir nodded. "Next you're gonna tell me Morn and Kai Winn had a baby together."</p>
<p>"No... but these two did," Bashir responded cheekily, gesturing to Kira and the chief.</p>
<p>"Julian!" they scolded, almost in unison.</p>
<p>At Jadzia's disbelieving stare, Kira clarified. "It's nothing like that. Keiko, the doctor, and I were in a runabout accident, and Keiko was injured, so I ended up carrying Kirayoshi to term."</p>
<p>"Well, congratulations to the both of you, and to Keiko too." Jadzia then turned the conversation back to the topic at hand. "So, me and Worf. How'd that end up happening?"</p>
<p>"You'd have to ask Worf for the full story. I just remember that you two came into the infirmary one afternoon about two years ago needing treatment for all sorts of bruises and scrapes. I didn't ask for details."</p>
<p>Two years ago. That meant it was almost a year after her last memories. Had anything happened between her and Kira in the interim? Jadzia glanced at the colonel, but quickly turned away, not wanting to be caught staring.</p>
<p>"I should probably have a talk with him." Jadzia remarked. Yawning, she continued, "and then I should probably get some sleep. Wait, do holograms need sleep?"</p>
<p>"In your case, your matrix is so complex you just might." Bashir tapped at some buttons on his console. "I think I've configured it so that you can give commands directly to the computer, so you can have it conjure up some quarters, or at least a bed. Just don't turn yourself off. I'm not sure what will happen then."</p>
<p>"Will do, Julian." The three non-holograms moved towards the exit.</p>
<p>Kira glanced back at her and seemed for a moment like she had something else to say, but instead she just said, "goodnight, Jadzia" and left the holosuite.</p>
<p>"Hey, Worf," Jadzia said cautiously as the Klingon entered the room.</p>
<p>"Jadzia." Worf fidgeted with his mek'leth, not quite able to look her in the eyes.</p>
<p>Jadzia broke the awkward silence that followed by requesting two holographic chairs from the computer. She took a seat in one and Worf followed in the other. After what felt like an hour of silence, but was probably less than a minute, Worf spoke first. "Ezri told me that you do not remember the past three years."</p>
<p>"That's right. As far as I remember, I was on the <em>Orinoco</em> as it was exploding, and then I was here. The past three years never happened to me."</p>
<p>"The others, they explained what happened to you? And between us?"</p>
<p>"They were hesitant to share details, on both counts, but, yeah, I got the gist of it."</p>
<p>There was another pause as Worf tried to find the right words. "As far as I am concerned, our marriage - the relationship I had with the other you - ended with her death. I grieved for her. I won a great battle to assure her place in Sto-vo-kor. And I hope to see her when it comes time to take my place among the honored dead."</p>
<p>Worf was a stoic man, one who could be hard to read at times, but Jadzia could sense his reverence for his wife - for this other her - in his words.</p>
<p>"You did not take the vow that she did, and you are not bound by its terms. That being said, I would not necessarily oppose pursuing a new relationship with you. Though..." Worf paused for a moment before continuing. "I suspect there may be someone else whom you wish to pursue instead."</p>
<p>At Jadzia's curious glance, Worf explained. "You once told me that you had courted Colonel Kira prior to my arrival on the station. I thought you should know that she and First Minister Shakaar broke up over a year ago, and that, to my knowledge, she has not seriously dated anyone since."</p>
<p>"I hadn't even known she and Shakaar were ever a thing." That must have started after the transporter incident. Kira being single was good news, but that didn't mean she had any interest in a relationship with Jadzia. "But, I don't know Worf. I'm not even sure if she's even interested in women."</p>
<p>"I am not the best source when it comes to gossip..." Worf seemed hesitant about his next words. "But the word on the station was that the colonel's breakup with Shakaar had something to do with her preference when it came to the gender of her romantic partners." Worf, slightly embarrassed, quickly added, "but you did not hear that from me."</p>
<p>Hmm. Now Jadzia was intrigued. If Kira was single <em>and</em> gay, now she felt like she might actually have a shot. Though there was still the fact that she was currently a hologram. Would that be a dealbreaker for Kira? In the past, she had expressed how fake she felt they were, but hopefully that didn't apply in this case? But there were also the practical considerations - how was she supposed to date Kira if she couldn't leave this holosuite?</p>
<p>Worf interrupted her train of thought. "You do not have to say anything right now. With everything that's happened to you in the past few hours, I'm sure relationships are the last thing on your mind."</p>
<p>Jadzia put her hand over Worf's in a comforting gesture. "Thank you, Worf. I'm sure this can't be easy for you."</p>
<p>"Nor for you. I'll let you get some rest." He stood up and turned to leave. "Goodnight, Jadzia."</p>
<p>"Goodnight, Worf," she replied as the holosuite doors closed behind him.</p>
<p>With the excitement of her various visitors gone, Jadzia's mind began to wander as her exhaustion fully set in.</p>
<p>"Computer, standard officers' quarters." She could personalize her new living space in the morning. For now, she laid down in the holographic bed and quickly fell asleep. She dreamed of Kira Nerys.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. IV. Kira</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h3 class="chapter-title">IV</h3><h4 class="narrator">Kira</h4><p>Kira left the holosuite with Dr. Bashir and Chief O'Brien. Worf entered in their place, closing the door behind him.</p><p>"I'll let Quark know to leave holosuite 3 available and running," O'Brien said after a moment.</p><p>"Someone should probably let Captain Sisko know what's going on," Kira stated.</p><p>"I've got a counseling appointment in ten minutes."</p><p>"And I was due back in the infirmary half an hour ago."</p><p>"I guess that leaves me then." How was she supposed to explain what had happened to the captain? It was all a little overwhelming.</p><p>And how would Sisko react to it? He had known Dax for decades and had already gone through the transition from Curzon to Jadzia, so Ezri had been less of an adjustment for him than she had for the rest of them. But how would he handle two Daxes in his life at the same time?</p><p>Kira also thought about her own relationship with the Trill. A lot had happened in the past three years that this Jadzia had no memory of. Could their friendship be anything like it was before? Thinking back to Ezri's revelation from earlier, she was pretty sure the answer was no. Was a <em>romantic</em> relationship with Jadzia suddenly possible? How did Worf fit in all of this?</p><p>Kira was so distracted that she nearly ran into Odo as she reached the turbolift. "Colonel," he said somewhat curtly as he followed her in. Kira nodded to the constable and then asked the turbolift to take them to Ops. There was an uneasy silence as it began moving.</p><p>Her relationship with Odo had been in an awkward position for the past few months. The two had largely reconciled following the changeling's betrayal during the Dominion occupation, but their friendship was once again strained after his ill-advised attempt to woo her.</p><p>Kira didn't begrudge him for it. She had never really made her sexuality clear to him after the Gaia incident, so his misunderstanding was excusable. Nonetheless, his embarrassment over the event had caused him to keep his distance from her since then. He was still cordial in their professional interactions, but Kira missed his friendship. Odo had been one of her closest confidants, and his absence had made the months where Sisko had left the station even more difficult.</p><p>Kira's thoughts were interrupted by the turbolift slowing to a halt. She almost walked into the doors in front of her, expecting them to open into Ops, but they remained closed. After a moment, the computer explained the situation.</p><p>"Turbolift guidance fault. Automatic reboot in progress. Please stand by." Ugh. This had been an issue for the past week. Normally, this kind of problem could be fixed in a day or two by the chief and his team, but they were so busy with repairs to ships from the combined Federation, Klingon, and Romulan fleets that nonessential station maintenance was deprioritized. Luckily the reboot only took a few minutes.</p><p>"So... Jadzia's back." Kira figured that the chief of security should be informed of the station's new holographic resident, and talking about it gave them something to do other than stand in silence until the turbolift rebooted.</p><p>"Hmm?" Odo replied. "I thought she was <em>Ezri</em> Dax now."</p><p>"No - well yes, she is, but there's also a new Jadzia Dax in holosuite 3." Kira explained the full situation to the shapeshifter.</p><p>"I see. So then she's been saved in your holosuite storage all these years and you've never noticed?"</p><p>"You know I don't care for holosuites. I barely spent any time in one unless <em>she</em> dragged me along." Kira intentionally tried to draw her friend into a personal conversation - the kind that had been lacking between the two recently.</p><p>"Yes, I suppose that's true." Kira thought she caught the hint of a smile flicker across Odo's face. "Does the captain know yet?"</p><p>"I'm just on my way up to his office to deliver the good news." Kira realized that in all the confusion and frenzy of the day's discovery, she hadn't stopped to consider just how good this news really was. Jadzia was getting a second chance at life, and not just through her memories living on in Ezri, but actually as herself. She smiled at the thought.</p><p>"Thank you for informing me. I'll make sure to lock my quarters while I'm regenerating."</p><p>"Odo! That was three years ago!" Kira chuckled a bit, recalling the multiple incidents where Dax had rearranged the constable's furniture.</p><p>"Yes, but from what you told me, this Jadzia never experienced the past three years, so she never learned not to mess with my quarters."</p><p>"Fair point," Kira admitted. "Though she's stuck as a hologram for the time being, so your furniture is safe for now."</p><p>Odo harrumphed as the turbolift began to move again. Its doors soon opened to Ops.</p><p>"Don't worry. I'll make sure she knows to stay out of your quarters," she reassured him.</p><p>"Thank you, Kira" he responded kindly. Kira? Well, that was a start. They were certainly close enough for him to be calling her Nerys, but at least it was better than him formally addressing her by her rank.</p><p>They both left the turbolift, with Odo going to talk to one of his deputies, and Kira heading over to Sisko's office. As she approached, the doors opened and Admiral Ross walked out, looking stoic as usual.</p><p>"Admiral." Kira had a fairly neutral opinion of the admiral. Her default opinion of most Starfleet top brass was negative, but Ross had earned her grudging respect following the incident with Derna.</p><p>"Colonel," he responded, and headed towards the turbolift.</p><p>Kira entered the captain's office and could immediately tell that he was in a bad mood. "News from the front?" she asked.</p><p>"Nothing worse than the usual," he responded. "But the usual is still pretty bad."</p><p>"Maybe I can give you some good news then." Sisko perked up at this. "It's Jadzia."</p><p>He sank back in his chair. "Jadzia? What good news could there be about Jadzia?"</p><p>"Well, uh, she's back, sir." Kira went on to explain the whole situation.</p><p>As she explained, Sisko became downright elated at the news. Kira hadn't seen him this happy since they retook the station from the Dominion. "That <em>is</em> great news, Colonel, if a little unexpected. If you don't mind, I think I'll head down to Quark's now and say hello."</p><p>"Uh, captain," Kira felt bad to temper his excitement even a little."She's probably asleep."</p><p>"I didn't realize holograms required sleep."</p><p>"I'm no holo-engineer, but apparently her matrix is so complex she's still able to get tired."</p><p>"I see. Oh well, I suppose I'll visit her in the morning." After a moment, the captain continued. "Who else knows so far?"</p><p>"Well, at this point it's probably the entire senior staff," Kira admitted. "I had Ezri and Chief O'Brien come down to figure out what was going on, and the chief brought along Dr. Bashir. I ran into Odo on my way up here and told him as well."</p><p>"What about Commander Worf?"</p><p>"He, uh, walked in on the rest of us, because he'd reserved the holosuite for his daily workout routine. We all left so that he and Jadzia could talk privately."</p><p>"I see. Given what you said about this Jadzia missing the past three years, I don't envy either party in that conversation."</p><p>"That's for sure," Kira agreed. "Anyway, is there anything you want me to do given this development?"</p><p>"Schedule a meeting in Jadzia's holosuite for 1400 hours tomorrow. I want to formally welcome her back and start working on a plan to beam her out of there."</p><p>"Will do, sir. Should I invite all of the senior staff?"</p><p>"Yes, and Rom too. He was the one that beamed us out of there originally, so it would be good to have him onboard for this."</p><p>"Very well, sir. I'll see you there." Kira was smiling now, her commanding officer's enthusiasm clearly infectious. Jadzia was alive! And she wouldn't let whatever worries she had spoil that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is my first serious attempt at writing fic, so I appreciate any feedback you might have.</p><p>Updates will probably come at irregular intervals.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>